I've Been Awarded ... a Meme??

While stopping by My Wonderful Life on my blog rounds Sunday I ran into a veritable treasure trove of stuff that MightyMom (aka NinjaNurse) had awarded to me. It was quite the blog visit and gave me more than enough material for this post!

First off, MM awarded me with both the Silly Goose and Smarty Pants awards for her latest round of Thesaurus Thursday, a fun little game that she hosts every Thursday where she gives her readers two words and challenges them to come up with either the correct or a silly definition. If you've never stopped by to play on Thursdays, what are you waiting for? It's a great chance to show off your knowledge of obscure words or have fun making up what you think the definition ought to be! It's nice to be a Smarty Pants but I find it to be even more fun to be a Silly Goose!

Then, as if those two awards weren't enough to make a blogger happy for quite awhile, MightyMom then went on to award me with a pretty cool award that she got from another blogging buddy that we share, Pinky @ Cheese In My Shoe ...

Apparently this award means that my blog is a daily addiction for MightyMom and to that all I can say is "aw, shucks, thank you ma'm!" You can read more about the award here.

MightyMom wasn't done there as to wrap things up she awarded me the task of taking on The Book Meme which I really enjoyed doing. I love books and wish I had more time to read them as it seems like it's been way too long since I've emerged myself into a really good story. Not to say that there aren't some really good stories here in the Blogosphere but you know what I mean! Besides, I'm waiting patiently for Gale to get her novel published! While you're waiting, too, check out -

The Book Meme

• One book that changed your life: Geez, the first question right off the bat is a tough one! I'm not sure that there are any books that have changed my life per say but there have been a lot of books that have touched my life. If I had to name one book, though, I guess I'd say The Bridges of Madison County because it made me realize, all over again, how sad it is to live your life without the person that you love by your side and how much love can hurt even though it's also one of the greatest emotions ever.
• One book that you have read more than once: My father always said that he "didn't like to chew his cabbage twice" but I have no problem chewing mine several times over! When I was younger (still in my teens), I discovered the historical romance fiction of Kathleen E. Woodiwiss and I have reread - several times over - her novels "The Flame and The Flower", "The Wolf and the Dove", "Shanna", "A Rose in Winter", and - a particular favorite of mine - "Ashes in the Wind". I loved them all not only for the heartwarming and pulse-racing romance but also for the accurate history that each book contained. No one - and I mean no one - writes historical romance like Kathleen!
• One book that you would want on a desert island: "1,001 Recipes for Coconut"
• One book that made you laugh: I'm with MightyMom on this one - any of the books in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich! Having lived in New Jersey not that far from Trenton when I was in the Air Force, I can picture and hear all of her characters quite vividly. Of course, reading the adventures of Stephanie does make one crave donuts while reading ... and cheesesteaks, too ... oh, and dark-haired Jersey cops and hunky bounty hunters and ...
• One book that made you cry: Just one?! I admit to being a total sap so cry when reading a lot of books (not to mention watching movies!). but one that comes to mind right away is "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom. What a great book and the made-for-TV movie was quite excellent, too!
• One book you wish you'd written: "The DaVinci Code" because it would have meant that I had the chance to go over and explore through the ruins of Rome and other fascinating parts of Europe while doing the background research. Plus I'd also have the money Dan Brown has from writing that book as well as being a household name in almost everyone's household!
• One book you wish had never been written: "Mein Kampf" - enough said.
• One book you're reading: "The Historian", a novel written by Elizabeth Kostova about a quest for the historical Dracula that reaches back through five centuries. My supervisor gave it to me to read months ago and told me that it was really very good and so far I've managed to get through maybe four or five chapters. I believe that there are others at work who are waiting for me to finish it so that they can read it next. Oops!
• One book you're going to read: "Wicked" as it's sitting on my nightstand waiting for me to just pick it up and start! Well, either that or I'll take the easy way out and go see the play instead!

A very big thank you to MightyMom for all of the great awards and for the meme tag, too!

Now, because this was a book meme I just have to tag my favorite retired librarian, Joan, and I'm also going to tag Patti and Jamie as they seem the type to loves books, too. If anyone else would like to snitch this meme (Mimi?) then by all means, go for it and let me know what you come up with!